Wednesday Morning Warm-Up.

Good Morning, Fellow Seekers.
Welcome to a special, pre-Thanksgiving Edition of Capitol Ideas. We've been awake all night, secreted away in a garden shed at the back of our sprawling compound somewhere in suburban Harrisburg.

If all goes according to plan, sometime tomorrow morning, we'll make our way to Herald Square. And before Al Roker and Meredith Viera know what hits them, we'll be flying our Gene Stilp balloon in this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

And somewhere, Stilp's famous Pink Pig will be enjoying a quiet drink with the family and we'd like to think he'll savor a quiet laugh at this weird reversal of fortune.

Sounds fantastical, you say? You never know ... stranger things have happened. And while you run down your mental catalogue of what those things are, we'll encourage you to peruse the rest of today's political headlines. They start, as always, after the gap.

Gov. Ed, The Reformer.
Speaking to county commissioners in Hershey yesterday, Gov. Ed called for changes in the way Pennsylvania finances its campaigns, charging that lawmakers are overly influenced by donors, our friends at Capitolwire report this morning.
Campaign contribution limits, along with other reforms, are the only solution to fixing a legislative process that is "absolutely shackled, because of this system of campaign finance we have," said Rendell, whose 2002 and 2006 gubernatorial campaigns shattered all previous fund-raising records.
Rendell told county officials that the influence of special interest groups kneecapped the tax increases he sought during the 101-day fight over The Frankenbudget.
These special interests are apparently different from the special interest groups who also routinely lobby Rendell and get stuff like $75 million tax credits for the film industry.
As you might imagine, Republicans were fairly laughing up their sleeves over the pronouncements by Rendell, who raised shedloads of cash in his campaigns against GOP nominees Mike Fisher and Lynn Swann.
In an e-mail, Senate GOP spokesman Erik Arneson told Capitolwire that Republicans didn't oppose Rendell's tax hikes because they'd been bought off. They mostly thought they were horrible ideas.
The state "“should not raise taxes on hard-working Pennsylvania families and businesses during the worst economy since the Great Depression,” Arneson wrote.

Sad News From The Steel City.Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and his wife of five years, Erin Ravenstahl, are separating, the Post-Gazette reports this morning.
The Ravenstahls, who married in 2004, have a one-year-old son.

After Giving PA Its Own Version ...
... of the Florida recount back in 2006, state Rep. Barbara McIlvaine-Smith, D-Chester, says she won't seek re-election in 2010 to her highly competitive suburban Philadelphia seat.
According to the Daily Local News of West Chester, McIlvaine-Smith instead intends to devote her time to environmental activism.
Oh ... and she's also had it with the way Harrisburg [dys]functions.
"The system is such that it's not set up to accomplish anything or to resolve issues," she said. "The way it's set up, the leadership in all four caucuses has a vested interest in maintaining the status quo," she told the newspaper.

You Can Add ...
... state Rep. Eugene DePasquale, D-York, to the list of legislators who are flogging reform bills this fall. He writes this morning to let us know that he's introduced legislation that would ban all WAMs, impose federal campaign contribution limits in Pennsylvania and ban lobbyists' gifts. If you're so inclined, you can watch DePasquale hold forth on his proposal by following this handy link.

Bucks County Commissioner Jim Cawley ...
... came out yesterday (along with fellow GOP Commissioner Charlie Martin) and endorsed GOP AG Tom Corbett for governor next year. Our pals at PA2010 remind us that this is an unusual move, what with Cawley being an announced Republican candidate for lieutenant governor. Such kissy-face, we are reminded, usually takes place behind closed doors.

Speaking Of Endorsements ...
... Democrats in Lebanon County (all seven of them, we believe) have endorsed the gubernatorial aspirations of Auditor General Jack Wagner. Now all Wagner has to do is hold some kind of formal event kicking off his candidacy.

Some Changes Afoot In The 6th CD.
For those of you who keep track of these things, state Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery, has withdrawn his endorsement of Democratic candidate (and former Inky editorialist) Doug Pike. We are told that Leach will remain neutral in what's shaping up to be a vigorous primary between Pike and fellow Democrat Manan Trivedi in the race for U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach's seat. We are also chasing down rumors that Leach intends to give his endorsement, instead, to Steely Dan keyboardist Donald Fagen. Because, y'know, that's how he rolls.

In The Blogosphere.GrassrootsPA banners the McIlVaine-Smith retirement announcement; Above Average Jane on the expansion of a federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers; PAWatercooler doesn't like something U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, a Catholic, had to say about the Catholic Church; 2 Political Junkies also has something to say about the church staking position on political/temporal issues; Suburban Guerrilla takes a pop at Sen. Kent Conrad; Keystone Conservative has some thoughts on healthcare reform; Policy Blog takes a look at who pays PA's personal income tax and finds that rich people pay more (clearly, they're not hiding their money well enough); Secret Agent Ska watches "Freaks and Geeks" (we knew there was a reason we liked him); LVCI has some T-Giving Funnies; Snowflakes in Hell has quite a lot to say about gun control; Red State makes the frankly offensive claim that American soldiers are treated worse than terrorists by the current White House; Daily Kos has a slightly different view of who's getting the short end of state tax systems; Hotline on that guy from New York who keeps conceding; The Fix eases into the T-Giving Holiday; Here's this morning's Playbook and DCist has our Picture of the Day (TM).

On The Capitol Ideas iPod This Morning.
Back in the 1980s, singer/guitarist Bobby Sutliff was one-half of the songwriting nucleus behind Mississippi power-pop mavens The Windbreakers. Well, The WBs packed it in around 1991 and have been threatening ever since to release a new record. But Sutliff's hardly been idle. He's released a clutch of severely underappreciated solo records. From his 1987 LP, "A Ghost is Born," here's "Same Way Tomorrow." (Full disclosure: Both Sutliff and WBs partner Tim Lee are longtime Friends O' The Blog. We are also labelmates with Lee and Sutliff.)

That's it for today. We're off tomorrow and will do some light posting on Friday and as events warrant. In the meantime, you can still follow us on Twitter or become our buddy on Facebook (search under "Capitol Ideas."). Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.